Loving the city//

Last week I shared part of our bigger dream as a church. How do we become people who love the city of Sydney… even if it may not love us back?

Now… the city doesn’t mean the CBD & the buildings. The city is the “highly urbanised, high proximity relationships we find ourselves in”. That means you’re a part of “the city” whether you live in Crows Nest, Castle Hill, Parramatta or Pittwater (we have Northsiders in each of those areas by the way!).

Therefore, if less than 40% of our church comes from this local area, could it be God is giving us every opportunity to impact Sydney for His good? How? Simply by loving our neighbours. Here’s 4 practical ways you could do that.

Let’s be a people who love our neighbours by…

Staying – getting to know them.

Of course it means to have a physical presence in your neighbourhood, but more importantly it simply means: what if you spent more time focused on being interested in people rather than interesting to people?

Praying – praying for them.

Pray for yourself and for your neighbours. But if God doesn’t seem to be answering the need, then maybe He is wanting you to be part of the answer!

Playing – offering hospitality.

Your home is Northside’s most under used resource.

Conservatively, if we said every Northsider lived in 85 square metres of space ,that would mean we have 18,000 square metres available for ministry! If you are anything like me, and you are not a “party thrower” – then be a “party goer”! Be unafraid to engage with those around you.

Saying – sharing Jesus with them.

Here’s where we sometimes have evangelism all wrong. We sometimes think of ourselves as “salespeople” when we’re actually “satisfied customers”. Consider the difference between these two phrases: “If you buy this car, you are going to love it!“ versus “I bought this car, and I love it.”

What if we simply shared Jesus that way?

There it is… what could you start on this week to be a part of our bigger mission?